Building off various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, Super Rugby officially started with the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Building off various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, Super Rugby officially started with the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The competition was known as Super 12 through to the end of the 2005 season; the name was changed to Super 14 with the addition of two teams for the 2006 season; with expansion to 15 teams for the 2011 season, the competition has been rebranded as Super Rugby. By 2006, matches were being broadcast in 41 countries.

The Super Rugby tournament comprises of 15 teams, five each from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (the 3 domestic conferences). During the regular season, each team will play a total of 16 matches and will have two byes.

The conference winner with the lowest amount of points and the teams ranked 4-6 on the log will go into the knockout phase, vying for an away semi-final berth against the top two conference winners. The final will be played at the homeground of the top ranked team.